The most valuable thing you own
by Ravenclaw's Graduate
Summary: During a game of wizard chess, Draco makes a bet with Ron, fifty Galleons against the most valuable thing he has, which for Ron is his girlfriend, Hermione...
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not to me. I would like to apologise to J.K. Rowling and anybody else who could sue me for having forgotten this disclaimer the first time I posted this chapter.  
  
  
  
"Game of chess, Harry?"  
  
"Sorry Ron."  
  
"Seamus?"  
  
"No thanks!"  
  
"Neville?"  
  
Ron sighed when Neville shook his head. It was becoming increasingly difficult to get a decent game of chess these days. Ron was so good at the game that everybody else's pieces refused to play against his, the casualties were just too high.  
  
"Exploding Snap, anyone?" Harry produced a pack of cards, and a noisy game began. It was a Friday evening, and they were sitting in the Great Hall. Since the beginning of the fifth year, inter-house co-operation had been encouraged to try to create more team spirit and a sense of unity against the growing power of the dark wizards. At first everybody had continued to socialise mostly with their own houses, but now they were much more likely to mix. Several other sixth years from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had come over to join in the card game. Slytherin students still didn't mix with Gryffindors, but nobody was exactly surprised by that.  
  
Ron lost all his cards fairly quickly, he wasn't really concentrating on the game. He liked Exploding Snap, but it wasn't really a substitute for chess. There was no strategy, no planning.  
  
He looked across the table to where Hermione was immersed in a book, as usual, apparently totally oblivious to the exploding mayhem around her. He reached out across the table and laid his hand over hers. She glanced up, smiled at him, and went back to her book, moving her hand slightly and tangling her fingers through his.  
  
Harry and Ron had both spent the last few days of the summer holiday at Hermione's house. Her parents had gone out one evening, leaving the three of them with some Muggle alcohol and the TV to themselves. They'd rented a couple of films and spent the evening getting slightly tipsy, used to the much weaker Butterbeer. Harry had fallen asleep, leaving Hermione and Ron curled up on the sofa together. Being in such close contact with her in a situation where they were in danger of neither sudden death or interrupt by his brothers, combined with losing some of his nerves after a few beers allowed Ron to gather his courage and kiss her. He'd been quite surprised when she kissed him back, but they'd now been going out for nearly two weeks. He still couldn't believe his luck, even if she wouldn't let his get too "soppy", as she put it, around Harry for fear of ruining the friendship the three of them shared.  
  
"Still want a game of chess, Weasley?" Ron jumped.  
  
"What do you want, Malfoy?" It was unusual for a Slytherin to approach the Gryffindor table. Especially Malfoy.  
  
"I felt like a game of chess, and they're aren't many people around here who are worth playing. Much as I hate to admit it, you're one of them."  
  
Draco was bored rigid trying to hold a conversation with Crabbe and Goyle, bored of having to explain any word longer than two syllables. He wasn't about to admit that to the Gryffindors, though.  
  
Ron sat back and looked at his enemy for a moment. He preferred to have as little as possible to do with Malfoy, but he'd wanted a decent game of chess all evening. And he doubted that Malfoy's chess set would be scared of his.  
  
"Okay, Malfoy. You're on."  
  
They set the board up on the Ravenclaw table, and settled themselves either side. Other students began to gather round as the game began, fascinated by a Slytherin/Gryffindor match.  
  
It was slow to start with, both boys enjoying a game that actually made them think for a change. They were fairly evenly matched, and their pieces were equally brutal.  
  
*****  
  
"Let's make this more interesting." Most of the spectators had drifted away. Roughly half the pieces were gone from the board. Ron was winning, but only just. Malfoy's suggestion broke the developing tense silence. "Let's make this worth something."  
  
"What did you have in mind, Malfoy?" Ron wasn't sure that he liked the sound of this, but his pride made him hide his doubts.  
  
"A few Galleons. Twenty, maybe." He smirked, knowing that Ron didn't have that kind of money.  
  
"I don't have that kind of money." Ron's face was bright red. It clashed with his hair.  
  
"Okay then. What's the most valuable thing you have?" Malfoy was enjoying Ron's discomfort. Ron's eyes flicked automatically to Hermione, still reading but now sitting at the Ravenclaw table to give him moral support.  
  
"Your girlfriend? How sweet. Okay then, how about fifty Galleons against a date with Mudblood Granger?" Hermione dropped her book, and several people lunged for Malfoy, who quickly realised that he was outnumbered.  
  
"My apologies. Hermione."  
  
Hermione looked from Ron to Malfoy and back again.  
  
"Ron?" Her voice was quieter than normal. Malfoy suppressed another smirk. He'd rattled the Mudblood as well as Weasel.  
  
"That's a lot of money." Ron didn't notice Hermione's shoulders stiffen. Malfoy did.  
  
"Fifty Galleons if you win, a date with Granger if I do."  
  
"What's going on?" Ginny wandered over from the Gryffindor table, where she'd been trying to tidy Harry's Exploding Snap cards. She was nursing a burn on her right thumb.  
  
"Malfoy and Ron are discussing a bet." Hermione's voice was cold. "Malfoy wants to bet fifty Galleons against a date with me." She sounded faintly disgusted. "Ron's thinking about it."  
  
"Ron! Hermione's worth more than that! How could you even think about it?"  
  
"That's a lot of money… and I'll win! It's chess."  
  
"Harry, stop him!" Ginny appealed to her brother's best friend. "Harry?" He was sitting a few seats up, but appeared not to have noticed anything. This was probably due to the fact that Cho Chang was sitting next to him. They were talking Quidditch. Harry was unlikely to be any help.  
  
"Hermione, I'll win. And with that money I can take you out properly." Ron coaxed. It was a sore point with him that he couldn't treat Hermione the way he thought he should do.  
  
"The money doesn't matter, Ron." Hermione insisted, but he'd stopped listening, and was looking at Malfoy. "Ron, don't do this!" It was too late, however. Ron and Malfoy were already shaking hands.  
  
Hermione snatched up her book and stormed back to Gryffindor tower. How could Ron do this to her? How could he treat her like property, especially where Malfoy was concerned. If Ron lost this game, she'd never speak to him again. Hell, if he won she still wouldn't talk to him. Nobody was going to treat Hermione Granger like that and get away with it.  
  
She was still sitting staring into the fire, ignoring her book, when Ginny burst in through the portrait hole. Hermione looked up.  
  
"Well?" Ginny's shoulders sagged.  
  
"Ron lost." 


	2. 

Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not to me. I would like to apologise to J.K. Rowling and anybody else who could sue me for having forgotten this disclaimer the first time I posted this chapter.  
  
  
  
At breakfast the next morning Hermione sat with Ginny and pointedly ignored Ron. Harry was confused, angry with Ron for betting Hermione, but understanding how tempting that much money had been. He didn't want to take sides, but he didn't want to leave Ron on his own and nobody else seemed to be talking to him any more. Harry knew what it was like to have everybody ignore you, and felt that he had to stick with Ron.  
  
"Hermione, you've got an owl!" Ginny looked up in time to see one of the school owls swooping towards them. Hermione removed the piece of parchment and released the owl. Her mouth was dry as she unfolded the note.  
  
Granger  
  
Meet me in the entrance hall, we'll go to Hogsmeade together.  
  
A. Malfoy  
  
"I have my orders!" Hermione muttered.  
  
"Don't go. Ron had no right to bet you like that, and Malfoy has no right to expect you to go anywhere with him." Ginny's indignation made her voice loud enough for Ron to hear. His ears went red, and he stared at his breakfast in shame.  
  
"No, I'll go. It's a matter of honour." Her voice was sarcastic as she quoted Ron's arguments from the previous evening, when they'd treated the Gryffindors to a screaming match in the common room. "Wouldn't want to let the Slytherins say that Gryffindors don't keep their word now, would we?" She left the table and headed back towards her dormitory, abandoning her breakfast.  
  
*****  
  
Draco Malfoy waited in the entrance hall, uncharacteristically nervous, although it didn't show. He'd sent the other Slytherins off without him. If the Mudblood was going to stand him up, he'd rather that they weren't around. They'd started teasing him in the common room last night, until he explained that he'd only done it to upset Weasel. Then they'd congratulated him.  
  
He wasn't sure what he was going to do with Granger today. Still, it would make a change not to have to talk to Crabbe and Goyle in Hogsmeade. And knowing that Weasel and Potter were separated from their brains for a few hours would make it all worthwhile.  
  
Hermione stood in a shadow on the stairs, watching him. He didn't look quite so cocky without his bodyguards. She was relieved that he was alone. It was bad enough to have to spend all day with Malfoy, without having the rest of Slytherin House hanging around. She waited until he looked away, then swept down the stairs to join him.  
  
"Ready then?" He jumped, then quickly recovered his cool.  
  
"I've been ready for ages. You took your time."  
  
A potential round of insults was cut short as two familiar voices floated down the stairs.  
  
"You're an idiot, Ron. Just go and apologise. Quick, before she leaves."  
  
"And have Malfoy say that I don't keep my word? Are you mad?"  
  
"Are you mad? Hermione won't forgive you if you make her spend all day with Malfoy. I don't blame her, he's a revolting little toad."  
  
Hermione turned to look at Malfoy. He seemed faintly amused by Harry's description of him.  
  
"Want to wait for an apology? Get Weasley out of his debt?" He spoke softly so that Harry and Ron wouldn't hear him. Hermione looked at him for a moment with an expression that he couldn't read. He saw Harry and Ron walking down the stairs, and watched them notice Hermione.  
  
"Go on!" Harry hissed at Ron, not particularly quietly. It spurred Hermione into action. Slipping her arm through Malfoy's, she smiled up at him.  
  
"So, Draco, where did you want to go?" He grinned back, impressed by her choice, and led her out of the door.  
  
They went the long way into Hogsmeade. Malfoy was in no rush to meet up with the rest of the Slytherins, and Hermione wanted to avoid Ron and Harry until she was more composed.  
  
"I can't believe you did that." Malfoy looked sideways at her. She'd dropped his arm once they were out of sight of school.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I thought you'd go straight back to them, if they asked. You're only doing this to please Ron."  
  
"Please him? I don't think so! I'm so angry…" He voice trailed off for a moment as a fresh wave of rage rolled over her. She took a deep breath and continued. "No, I don't want to 'please him'. But since I'm not talking to him, it would make things rather awkward if I went to Hogsmeade with him and Harry, and I didn't feel like staying at school…" She met Malfoy's eyes, and he was surprised to see a spark of mischief there. "And I figured that 'honouring his debt', as he put it last night, would upset him more than anything else I could do right now."  
  
*****  
  
"I can't believe she's gone off with Malfoy like that!" Ron fumed, as he walked into Hogsmeade with Harry.  
  
"Well, you told her to!" Harry pointed out.  
  
"I suppose you're on her side."  
  
"Side? I'm not on anybody's side. I didn't know that there were sides. You have to admit that you told her to last night. Very loudly. The whole of Gryffindor heard you."  
  
"I didn't mean it." Ron muttered.  
  
"Gryffindors keep their word? Can't let Slytherin say we don't honour our debts?"  
  
"But…" Ron's shoulders sagged. "I don't like thinking that she's with Malfoy today. What if he's mean to her? And all the other Slytherins?"  
  
"He was on his own…"  
  
"Smiling up at him like that. What if he tries it on with her?"  
  
"Hermione won't take any nonsense. You know what she's like." Ron shrugged, but Harry's point got though.  
  
"I suppose it is kind of my fault. I'll have to make it up to her. Let's go to Honeyduke's."  
  
Harry didn't think that a few Chocolate Frogs would be enough to make Hermione forgive Ron, but he didn't say anything. As long as Ron made an effort, Hermione would talk to them again eventually. He was sure of it. 


	3. 

Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not to me.  
  
Thanks for reviewing me! Here are chapters three and four. I'll post as often as I can, and I'm not going to hold this story to ransom for reviews.  
  
  
  
"So."  
  
"So…" Once Hermione had explained her motives, she and Malfoy found themselves not knowing what to say to one another.  
  
"Have we ever had a conversation that didn't involve insults and end with everybody's wands out?"  
  
"I don't think so. I have my wand right here, you can start the insulting if you like."  
  
Malfoy grinned.  
  
"I never knew you had a sense of humour."  
  
"I never knew you could laugh at anything other than other people's problems."  
  
"Well, we've never had a common aim before." Hermione looked away for a moment, remembering Ron's face when she'd left him in the common room last night. She'd shouted at him for not caring about her, for not thinking about how she'd feel, and now here she was chatting to his worst enemy and almost enjoying herself.  
  
"So what's the plan now then?" Her voice had grown colder. "Where's the rest of your house hiding? Where are we supposed to be meeting them so that you can all laugh at me?"  
  
"We're not."  
  
"We're not? What was the point then? Why go to all this trouble?" Hermione stopped walking and turned to face him. "What is going on, Malfoy?"  
  
"I don't know. I mean, nothing's going on. I didn't plan this. I just wanted a game of chess." He turned away from her, left the path and started to climb up the hillside. By now their walk had taken them almost to the far side of the village, near to where Harry's godfather Sirius had hidden during their fourth year at Hogwarts. Hermione scrambled after him.  
  
"Okay Malfoy, and now the truth please?" she panted. "And can you slow down?" He stopped and sat down on a large, mossy boulder.  
  
"It's the truth. I was bored, talking to Crabbe and Goyle. Or rather talking at Crabbe and Goyle, they don't tend to add much to the conversation." He looked over to where she stood, the sun behind her making him squint. "Look, I don't like Weasley, and I probably never will, but as I said last night he's one of the few decent chess players in the school. I just wanted a challenge for once."  
  
Hermione climbed up and sat next to him.  
  
"So why start that whole betting thing?"  
  
"Because he's so touchy about money, and it's so easy to wind him up. I was just going to laugh at him a bit. I never thought he'd be the soppy romantic sort who'd place a girl at the top of valuables list."  
  
"Very romantic, betting your girlfriend on a game of chess." Hermione answered dryly. "I think you might have done me a favour, actually."  
  
"I have?"  
  
"Showing my romantic man in all his glory… I'm not as upset as I should be." She frowned as this realisation hit her. "Maybe I'm secretly glad to be out of it, especially as nobody can accuse me of hurting him after what he did."  
  
Malfoy was watching her intently as she spoke, and she suddenly stopped and pulled herself together.  
  
"I must be mad," she said, "telling you all this. This will give you and the rest of Slytherin something to tell the whole school."  
  
"Troubles in Potter's little world..." Malfoy grinned. "Not if you don't tell anyone that all of Slytherin bore me stupid and I'm glad of any opportunity to get rid of them."  
  
"The whole school knows that, Malfoy. It's hardly news."  
  
"It would be to Crabbe and Goyle. And they're both bigger than me."  
  
Hermione laughed suddenly.  
  
"Okay. I won't tell if you don't." She held out her hand, and Malfoy shook it. She let go, and he stared down at his hand.  
  
"Want to wash it?"  
  
"Yeah, it's got Mudblood on it…"  
  
"Ferret."  
  
The sting was gone from their usual insults.  
  
*****  
  
"I hope you're pleased with yourself, Ron Weasley."  
  
"Hermione cried herself to sleep last night."  
  
Ron backed away until his back was pressed against a display of Liquorice Wands. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil stood in front of him, glaring, both with their hands on their hips.  
  
"You should be ashamed of yourself." Lavender shook a finger at him. Ron was reminded of his mother. Oh no, his mother! What was she going to say when she heard about this? Ginny was going to tell her, he was sure of it.  
  
"Ron! You're not even listening!"  
  
"Sorry. I'm sorry, okay." He pleaded, looking to Harry for help. Harry, on the other side of the shop, was to busy trying not to laugh to be much use.  
  
"I don't think sorry's going to be enough." Parvati threatened. "And no other girl's going to want to go out with you know they know how you treat your girlfriends."  
  
Ron suddenly realised that it wasn't just a case of apologising to Hermione. His already-shaky reputation amongst the girls was going to suffer badly. Girls had long memories. He'd once broken one of Ginny's dolls, when she was about seven. Although their mother had fixed it immediately, Ginny had still been reminding him of it right up until a few weeks before she started Hogwarts. He'd pointed out that she wouldn't want people at school thinking that she still cared about dolls, and she'd shut up. He suspected that it would never be forgotten, however, and probably never forgiven either.  
  
This was bad. This was very bad.  
  
He pushed past Lavender and Parvati and went over to Harry.  
  
"Let's get out of here." He muttered. "I need a Butterbeer." 


	4. 

Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not to me.  
  
  
  
The Three Broomsticks was fairly busy, as it often was when the Hogwarts students were in town, but Malfoy's reputation allowed him to get one of the tables towards the back of the room for himself and Hermione. No student dared to intrude when he glared at them. As usual, most of the chairs in the pub had been grabbed by the students and grouped around one or two tables, where large groups of friends sat chatting. Pansy Parkinson had called to Malfoy to join them, but he'd ignored her and led Hermione to this corner.  
  
As there were no free chairs or stools by the table, she had to slide along the bench by the wall and let him in next to her when he came back with a Butterbeer each. She realised that she wouldn't have minded, if it wasn't for the stares from their fellow students.  
  
She'd actually started to get on with Malfoy during the day. As they wandered around the town, they'd discovered that they were both intending to buy the same book, and once they had a subject in common they'd talked non-stop all afternoon.  
  
When he drops the superior act, she thought, he's actually quite good company.  
  
When she's not surrounded by Potter and the Weasel, he thought, she's actually quite good fun.  
  
They both enjoyed having somebody intelligent to talk to. Harry and Ron were great friends, but Hermione often got annoyed when they didn't follow her train of thought. The current sixth-year in Slytherin had few outstanding students, and whilst Malfoy liked being the leader and having everybody admire him, it did get boring sometimes.  
  
"It actually works better. An entire house can be heated from just one fire. You don't need magic for everything." Hermione was explaining how some Muggle invention called central heating was better than the traditional huge fireplaces and magic fires. Much as he hated to admit it about Muggle things, she seemed to have a point. Suddenly she moved her bag off the seat between them and slid closer to him.  
  
"What are you doing?" He said quietly.  
  
"Ron and Harry have just come in." She played with her hair so that it hid her face from the view of anyone by the door. He played along and put an arm around her.  
  
"What do you want Ron to think?"  
  
"Well, he bet you his girlfriend. Not just a friend, not just me, but his girlfriend."  
  
Malfoy raised his hand and gently ran his fingers along her cheek, smirking at the thought of how Ron must be feeling, watching this.  
  
"Now what?"  
  
Hermione didn't want this to go any further. It was one thing to pretend that there was something going on to annoy Ron, it was quite another to actually kiss Draco Malfoy in the Three Broomsticks. Even if it was just an act.  
  
"Let's leave."  
  
"Good plan." He tapped her softly on the nose, for Ron's benefit, then they quickly finished their drinks, gathered their things and left the Three Broomsticks, Malfoy's arm around Hermione's waist.  
  
Ron stared after them. Hermione hadn't even looked at him. He was expecting her to be angry with him, furiously so, but not to actually enjoy herself with Malfoy.  
  
"What have I done?"  
  
Harry handed him a Butterbeer.  
  
"You've been an idiot, Ron."  
  
"Pansy was looking at us. What am I going to tell them all? They'll be trying to tease me tonight." He was only half joking, Hermione guessed, although the thought of anybody being able to tease Malfoy and actually get a reaction was really quite amusing. They were walking out of Hogsmeade, taking the path back up to school.  
  
"Tell her the truth."  
  
"Which is?" Malfoy still had his arm around Hermione. She wriggled free and turned to face him.  
  
"That you made that bet last night so you could tease Ron, and I got so angry with him for betting me that I pretended to have a good time with you to get back at him. Surely upsetting a Weasley is a good enough motive?"  
  
"You were only pretending to have a good time?"  
  
"Well I'm not going to admit it if I was, am I? And you? You're surely not going to tell the rest of Slytherin that you'd rather spend time with a Mudblood, are you?"  
  
"No, I suppose not."  
  
There was a pause, and they resumed walking.  
  
"But did you have a good time?" He had to ask.  
  
"I think I did, despite everything. It makes a change to talk to somebody who can keep up."  
  
"It does. I'm looking forward to the next Hogsmeade weekend already."  
  
"The next one?" They'd arrived back at school. "The bet was for one date, Malfoy. Ron's paid up. Everybody's even." Hermione laughed, not unpleasantly. "Thanks for my 'date', Malfoy. See you around." She blew him a kiss and darted off into the castle, astonished at her own daring.  
  
Malfoy stood still in the entrance hall, wondering why he felt disappointed. She was a Mudblood. He didn't want to spend time with somebody like that. No, next time he went into Hogsmeade he'd be back where he belonged, undisputed leader of the sixth-year Slytherins.  
  
Hermione collapsed on her bed, her heart racing from running up the stairs. She was relieved that was over. Now she could get back to hanging around with Harry and Ron, her friends. Ron, who'd bet her on a game of chess like an object. Harry, who'd sided with Ron this morning when it was clear that she was in the right. The boys who admired her for her brains, but couldn't hold a really in depth conversation. Unlike Malfoy. Malfoy who hated her because her parents were Muggles. Malfoy who scorned her because she was a Gryffindor. Malfoy who she'd thought for one moment had been going to kiss her.  
  
She closed her eyes and imagined what it might be like to kiss Malfoy. 


	5. 

Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not to me.  
  
I've got nothing else to do today (well nothing I want to do!) so here are another three chapters... It's started to run away from me now, when I thought of the idea I knew exactly what I wanted to happen, but they've all started to do their own thing...!  
  
  
  
"Hermione? Can I come in?" Ginny knocked on the open door of the sixth year girls dormitory. Hermione rolled over and sat up.  
  
"'Course you can." Ginny came over and sat next to her.  
  
"Everybody's talking about you and Malfoy." Hermione grinned.  
  
"What are they saying?"  
  
"Well, Lavender and Parvati were saying that Ron broke your heart and you've rebounded onto Malfoy. I heard Patsy Parkinson from Slytherin saying that Malfoy's leading you on and you've really fallen for him, and Dennis Creevey reckons that somebody's put a hex on you and Malfoy to make you think you're in love." Hermione snorted.  
  
"Dennis can be worse than Colin sometimes." She paused. "What did Ron say?"  
  
"He didn't say anything." Ginny fiddled with the sleeve of her robe. "He just sort of went red and white in blotches. Harry looked a bit cross, but I don't know who with." Her eyes sparkled with sudden mischief. "So, what's really going on?"  
  
*****  
  
"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Harry caught Hermione's arm as she came out through the portrait hole on her way to the Great Hall for dinner.  
  
"Sure. Make it quick though, I'm starving!"  
  
"I need to know what was going on with you and Malfoy in the Three Broomsticks this afternoon." Harry pulled her into a side corridor.  
  
"I was getting back at Ron. He had the nerve to bet his girlfriend on a game of chess, and he lost. So Malfoy and I were technically on a date."  
  
"You looked like you were enjoying yourself."  
  
"That was the idea."  
  
"What actually happened, Hermione?" She sighed and folded her arms.  
  
"We went into town, we had a chat, mostly about school, then we had a quick drink and came back up to school. We didn't kiss in the Three Broomsticks, we were just pretending that we were going to. When we got back to school I told him that Ron's debt had been paid, and came straight back to the common room."  
  
"That's okay then." Harry's shoulders sagged with relief. "I thought that maybe Malfoy was trying to make you do things that you didn't want to."  
  
"No. He was all right, actually. When he's on his own he's not so… obnoxious."  
  
"Hermione, this is Malfoy we're talking about. He's always obnoxious!" Harry grinned. "Come on, let's go and get some dinner."  
  
"Where's Ron?" Hermione twisted in her seat to look for him.  
  
"Er, I think he's still in the dormitory. He said he wasn't hungry." Harry looked slightly uncomfortable.  
  
"Ron, not hungry? Is he ill?"  
  
"I think he's just ashamed of himself. He feels really bad about the way he treated you. Plus Lavender and Parvati cornered him in Honeyduke's and I think he might be a bit scared of them now."  
  
Hermione laughed. "I can just picture that!" She glanced at her wristwatch. "We've got five minutes before dinner actually starts, I'll go and get him."  
  
"You've forgiven him then?" Harry looked surprised. Ron hadn't even had a chance to apologise.  
  
"Not exactly. But I got my own back today, and I don't want us all to stop being friends. If we start talking again now, it won't be such a big deal. I hope." She left the table and headed for the dormitories. Harry stared after her in amazement. After the row they'd had the night before, he'd expected her to make Ron grovel a bit first.  
  
"Ron?" The curtains on his bed were closed.  
  
"Go away!" The voice from behind them was muffled.  
  
"Ron, it's me. Come downstairs, dinner's starting."  
  
"Hermione?" Ron's head appeared through the curtains. "Why are you talking to me?"  
  
"Because I hate it when things are awkward."  
  
"Does this mean you've forgiven me?"  
  
"Not exactly. But I didn't have too bad a time today, so I'm not as cross as I was."  
  
Ron opened the curtains and climbed out, his robes crumpled from where he'd been lying down. Hermione started for the door.  
  
"Hurry up, I'm starving."  
  
"Hermione." Ron paused.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." He pulled a bag out from under the bed. "I got you some Chocolate Frogs." They were slightly squashed, but Hermione decided that it was the gesture that counted.  
  
"Thanks Ron."  
  
"Umm… So… Are we friends again?" Hermione nodded. "Are you still my girlfriend?" She closed her eyes for a moment.  
  
"I don't know." She said finally. "You really hurt me." She opened her eyes again. "Just friends?"  
  
Ron looked crestfallen. "That's still more than I deserve." He looked so miserable that Hermione had to hug him. He clung tightly to her for a few moments, then she disentangled herself.  
  
"Come on then. Let's get downstairs before dinner's over."  
  
*****  
  
Everybody was surprised to see Hermione and Ron eating dinner together. Parvati and Lavender looked almost angry that Hermione seemed to have forgiven him. Ginny, who was sitting further down the table with some friends from her own year, waved and mouthed "Have you forgiven him?" when Ron wasn't looking. Dennis Creevey looked extremely disappointed that nobody had been under any sort of a spell.  
  
When the shock had worn off, it was just like any other evening, or at least any evening before Ron and Hermione had started going out. As Harry hadn't had a chance yet to discover an evil plot for them to battle against this year, term having been under way for less than a month, they made do with talking about Quidditch. The keeper from the Chudley Cannons, Ron's favourite team, had announced his retirement. Ron, Harry and Seamus were debating who would replace him.  
  
Quickly becoming bored by the Quidditch talk, Hermione found her mind wandering back to her day in Hogsmeade. She glanced over at the Slytherin table. Malfoy was eating slowly, looking thoroughly bored as Pansy Parkinson giggled about something. Hermione quickly looked away again before anybody noticed who she was watching.  
  
On the other side of the room, Draco Malfoy frowned as he ate his way through a portion of roast chicken without really tasting it. He was as surprised as anybody else to see Hermione talking to Ron. After some of the things she'd said today, he expected her to remain angry for longer. Then again, he hadn't expected her to drop him like that as soon as they got back to the castle. Malfoy wasn't used to girls dropping him. He decided that it wasn't really something he enjoyed. 


	6. 

Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not to me.  
  
  
  
"Come on, Harry!" Hermione jumped up and down as Harry swooped after the Hufflepuff Seeker in pursuit of the Golden Snitch. Gryffindor were leading 60-30. Everybody held their breath as the two Seekers plummeted into a dive, Harry still fractionally behind. Suddenly, Harry pulled out of the dive and shot away towards the Gryffindor hoops. He'd spotted a telltale flash of gold and realised that his opponent was bluffing.  
  
"Nice try, but our Harry's not fooled." Colin Creevey turned to Hermione. "That was a good attempt at a Wronski Feint, it might have worked on somebody else, but not on Harry." He looked as proud as if he was out on the pitch himself. Hermione smiled to hide the fact that she didn't really know what Colin was talking about, then turned her attention back to the game, where Harry had lost sight of the Snitch whilst avoiding a Bludger.  
  
"Ron's got the Quaffle!" Ginny climbed onto her seat and started yelling encouragement to her brother. All sibling rivalry between the Weasleys was forgotten during Quidditch matches. "Come on, Ron!"  
  
Hermione dropped all her dignity and followed Ginny's example.  
  
"Look out, Ron!" One of the Hufflepuff Beaters had sent a Bludger spinning towards him. Ron saw it coming, ducked just as it reached him so that it sped harmlessly above him, and dropped the Quaffle neatly through the nearest hoop.  
  
Hermione and Ginny hugged, still jumping up and down, and almost inevitably fell off the seat, much to the amusement of their friends.  
  
In the opposite stands, Draco Malfoy spun the dial on his Omnioculars and focused on Hermione's face at the moment Ron scored. He found himself wishing that he got a reaction like that when he played Quidditch. It was two weeks now since he'd won a date with Mudblood Granger, and he couldn't settle back into everyday life. The Slytherins seemed even more boring than usual, and Potter and Weasley even more infuriatingly smug now that they had Hermione back.  
  
An eruption of noise dragged his attention back to the game, where Potter had caught the Golden Snitch. Didn't that boy ever lose?  
  
*****  
  
After dinner, most of the students had stayed in the Great Hall. The Gryffindors were celebrating their win, but saw no need to return to their common room. This was the first game of the season, so the usual rivalry hadn't grown up too much yet. The Hufflepuff team were good sports, and after congratulating the Gryffindors on their win were quite happy to join in the eating and drinking. Various people had brought games down from their common rooms, and a rowdy game of Exploding Snap, involving no less than five packs of cards, was soon underway.  
  
"Hey, Weasley!" A familiar drawl interrupted Ron's fifteenth recital of how he'd narrowly missed being decapitated. Over the years he'd been at Hogwarts, Ron's talent for exaggeration had increased, if such a thing was possible.  
  
"What do you want, Malfoy?"  
  
"Fancy testing your winning streak?" Malfoy's cool demeanour was unruffled by the noise around him.  
  
"What did you have in mind?"  
  
"Another game of chess? Another little bet?"  
  
"What did you want to bet this time?"  
  
"Same again. Fifty Galleons. Or I take over your relationship with Granger again."  
  
"Can't get a girlfriend of your own, Ferret?"  
  
"Well, if you're scared…" Malfoy started to turn away. Hermione, who'd been watching the exchange with a slight frown, suddenly smiled and whispered something in Ron's ear. Ron grinned.  
  
"Okay Malfoy. But she's worth more than fifty Galleons." Malfoy turned back as if he couldn't believe that Ron had agreed.  
  
"Seventy-five?" Ron looked at Hermione, who shrugged and nodded.  
  
"Okay Malfoy. Seventy-five Galleons to me if I win, or a day in my relationship with Hermione if you win." They shook on it, and set up the chess board.  
  
Nobody really noticed Malfoy and Ron settling into another chess match. The Exploding Snap had got so frantic that one of the prefects had been up to the hospital wing to ask Madam Pomfrey for something to treat minor burns. Apparently she hadn't been too pleased to hear what was going on downstairs, but had given in to avoid an influx of overexcited patients into her quiet ward.  
  
Harry, Cho and the Hufflepuff seeker, a third year whose name Hermione didn't know, were sitting apart from the crowd, drawing diagrams on scraps of parchment. It was unusual to see Quidditch teams from different houses working together, but Hufflepuff were playing Slytherin in a few weeks, and Hermione suspected that Cho and Harry were helping the younger player with tactics. She also suspected that Harry wasn't quite as over his crush on Cho as he claimed.  
  
She was a few seats down from where Ron and Malfoy were playing, sitting on the table with her feet on a chair and a book open on her lap. Wizard's chess still made her feel uncomfortable, the violence from the pieces always reminded her of the giant set that she, Harry and Ron had had to face at the end of their first year. Ron had been knocked out and she'd had to look after him on her own while Harry went on to battle You-Know-Who. She still had occasional nightmares about that room.  
  
She winced as Malfoy's Queen sent one of Ron's Knights flying off the chessboard, and forced herself to focus on her book.  
  
Malfoy won. Hermione wasn't entirely surprised. Malfoy was so busy looking smug that he didn't realise that Ron wasn't quite as upset as he should be.  
  
"So, Granger. Next Hogsmeade weekend?"  
  
"Okay Malfoy. Let me know where you want to meet." Hermione slid down from the table and tucked her book under one arm. She waited until Ron had finished putting his battered and grumpy chess set back into the box, then tucked her free arm into his. "See you!"  
  
They made it out of the Great Hall before Ron started to laugh.  
  
"What's so funny?" Harry was following them. "Did I just see you lose to Malfoy again?"  
  
"Yes!" Spluttered Ron. "And I bet him Hermione again!"  
  
"Why is that funny?" Harry looked confused. Hermione smiled.  
  
"Because Malfoy has won a day in Ron's relationship with me. He thinks he's won himself a date!"  
  
Harry still looked confused.  
  
"Ron and I aren't friends any more. Malfoy's won a day trailing around Hogsmeade with the three of us!" 


	7. 

Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not to me.  
  
Sorry about last time, I had chapter five six and seven saved on my disk, and forgot until after I'd posted that I hadn't actually written chapter seven, just saved it a document ready… sorry!  
  
Did you spot the obvious mistake at the end of part six? Hermione's last line should have been: "Ron and I aren't going out any more, we're just friends. Malfoy's won a day trailing around Hogsmeade with the three of us!"  
  
  
  
(Part seven)  
  
Hermione sat by herself in the library, for once not focusing on her homework. She was confused by the events of the past couple of weeks.  
  
Her friendship with Ron and Harry was just as usual. Since breaking up with Ron she'd rarely been alone with him, although sometimes when their eyes met she'd get that flippy feeling in her stomach like she used to when they kissed.  
  
The day with Malfoy had been fun, she'd enjoyed having a conversation where she didn't have to explain anything. She'd found herself opening up to him a bit, and so far he'd not betrayed her trust. It had been brave of him to bet Ron for her again, unless he was up to something. It must look decidedly odd to the rest of the school, Draco Malfoy trying to win a Mudblood. She didn't know if he was up to something or not, she didn't think so but she couldn't trust him. All the same, she felt a little bit guilty tricking him about this coming weekend's Hogsmeade trip.  
  
She was still angry with Ron for betting her in the first place. He'd apologised, yes, and she preferred to stay friends and not let things get nasty, but she wasn't as happy with him and Harry as she had been. Sometimes their obsession with Quidditch, the way they found bodily noises amusing, the way they were, well, boys, irritated her so much she didn't like being in the same room as them.  
  
That was one thing Malfoy had going for him. She'd never heard him try to belch the alphabet.  
  
Hermione made up her mind, found a fresh piece of parchment and wrote a note for Malfoy.  
  
"Excuse me?" About fifteen minutes later, Hermione was interrupted from the homework that she'd finally made a start on by two nervous-looking first year Gryffindors. She put down her quill and smiled at them.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Professor Snape set us homework on the uses of unicorn horn in medicine, and we don't really understand the description in the book." The girl blurted out, then looked stunned at her daring in talking to a sixth year. She was clutching a book to her chest. Hermione pushed her notes together to make room for them at the table.  
  
"Sit down and I'll go through it with you." She said kindly. "I remember this from my first year."  
  
When Malfoy wandered into the library ten minutes later to do some research for his Transfiguration essay, Hermione was absorbed in explaining something to the two eager first years. He watched her unnoticed for a moment, then started to search for books.  
  
Hermione glanced up and noticed him browsing.  
  
"I just have to put this book back, won't be a moment." She picked up a book from the table, walked over to where Malfoy was standing and slotted into a gap on the shelf.  
  
"If you're doing the Transfiguration essay, that one's worth a look." She whispered, then returned to helping the first years. Malfoy looked at her for a moment, then removed the book from the shelf. Tucked inside it was a note.  
  
  
  
Ron and I spilt up just after that first game of chess, so when you won the second game all you won was a day shopping with Ron, Harry and I. That's why Ron didn't mind betting you. I just wanted to warn you because my conscience got the better of me.  
  
It wasn't addressed to him, and she hadn't signed it. Clever, Granger, it couldn't be traced back to her and he couldn't show it to the Slytherins and laugh at her. She'd even written in capitals to disguise her handwriting.  
  
Now all he had to do was pretend that he'd known he was letting himself in for a day with Potter and the Weasel and that they hadn't managed to get one over on him.  
  
Flicking through the book, he realised that it really would be helpful for his essay. He caught Hermione's eye, nodded to show that he'd got the note, held up the book and smiled to say thankyou.  
  
"Did that Slytherin just smile at you?" Once they'd realised that Hermione was happy to help them, the first years had stopped being so scared.  
  
"Draco Malfoy? I doubt it. He's probably got a twitch or something." 


	8. 

Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not to me.  
  
  
  
"I can't believe he's acting like this! Like he actually meant to trap himself into spending all day with us!" Ron whispered to Hermione. Malfoy and Harry were walking just in front of them, talking rather stiltedly about Quidditch. Hermione shrugged.  
  
"Who knows what goes on in his head? If anything does…" She was feeling rather uncomfortable. They all were. Malfoy had been fighting with Harry and Ron, and by association herself, since the moment they started at Hogwarts. Being civil to one another was rather awkward, especially because both Ron and Harry were sure that Malfoy had some sort of trick planned. Hermione wanted to get Malfoy on his own and ask him what was going on, but she guessed that Ron and Harry would do their best to prevent that in case Malfoy tried to upset her. How could she get rid of them?  
  
The answer presented once they got into town. Ron wanted to see what was knew in the joke-and-trick shop, so that he could keep his brothers up to date on the competition. Hermione wanted to look at book.  
  
"More books? Surely you've got enough?" Ron would never understand Hermione's love for reading.  
  
"I want to broaden my background reading. I much prefer to write essays on things I really understand."  
  
"I'm looking for a book for my mother's birthday." Malfoy said.  
  
"Okay then, we'll all go." Ron didn't like the way this conversation suddenly seemed to be heading, but Hermione interrupted him.  
  
"Don't be silly. You and Harry go and look for new things to explode, Malfoy and I will look for books. We can all meet up in the Three Broomsticks afterwards."  
  
Neither Harry nor Ron could think of an argument to this, at least not one they could express in front of Malfoy.  
  
"I thought we'd never get rid of them." Malfoy drawled, leaning against some shelving.  
  
"Drop the act, Malfoy." Hermione reached past him for an interesting looking book. "What's going on? Why the second bet?"  
  
"I just…" He seemed uncharacteristically reluctant to talk. "I wanted to talk to you again. I liked talking to you."  
  
"Careful Malfoy, somebody might hear you." Hermione's sarcasm would have made him wince, if he wasn't Draco Malfoy. "It sounded like you said you like talking to a Mudblood." He opened his mouth, then shut it again. "Malfoy, if you wanted to go into Hogsmeade with me, why didn't you just ask me?"  
  
"Would you have said yes?"  
  
"Maybe." She thought about this. "Okay, probably not. But you could have asked."  
  
"I was hoping to upset Weasley again as well."  
  
Hermione sighed, replaced the book she was holding and selected another one.  
  
"Have you heard what people are saying about you? Because you wanted to win a second date with me?" Malfoy looked at his feet. Hermione continued. "Most of Gryffindor think that you're ill. I've heard people saying that you're under a spell or that you're actually somebody else using Polyjuice Potion. One of the more romantic first years thinks that you've fallen in love with me and you're planning to renounce your family and friends and follow your heart. I don't believe any of those, but I think that telling people you just like talking to me is going to sound even less believable. Are you sure there's no ulterior motive?" Malfoy stopped looking at his feet and stared at her.  
  
"You're a challenge. You don't like me. Most of the girls in our year are either scared of me or have a crush on me." He sounded like he was boasting, but Hermione realised that it was true. "When we're not fighting you're completely unaware that I exist. It never used to bother me, but when we got talking a couple of weeks ago I realised that… that I do like talking to you. You're intelligent, you have a sense of humour, and it makes a change to talk to a girl who actually looks at me when I'm talking, and who doesn't blush or giggle every time she opens her mouth." He turned away and started running his finger along the bookshelves. "Annoying Weasley gives me an alibi for the Slytherins, and amuses me. Plus I get to play some decent chess." He shrugged. "Will that do?" Hermione looked at him for a few moments while she thought over what he'd said.  
  
"That'll do. I'm still not sure I trust you though."  
  
"I wouldn't expect you to." 


	9. 

Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not to me.  
  
  
  
Draco Malfoy stood in the library, searching for books for a Potions essay, and watching Hermione out of the corner of his eye.  
  
It was mid-November, and Hermione's study-sessions with the younger students had become a regular fixture. It had become known amongst the first and second years that, if you had problems with your homework, and you didn't want to ask a teacher, Hermione Granger was in the library between two and five on a Friday afternoon and she was always happy to explain things. Today there were six Gryffindors, four first and two second years, three first year Hufflepuffs and a Ravenclaw sitting around one of the big tables. Malfoy grinned when he noticed two first year Slytherin girls sitting near Hermione, apparently working alone. He could see that they were actually listening to her, hoping to get help without being seen to ask for it. Malfoy left his search and wandered over to them.  
  
"What's the subject?" they jumped when they realised that one of their own sixth-years was standing over them.  
  
"Charms." One of them showed him the book they were looking at. Malfoy recognised this particular charm from his first year. He'd had trouble getting it right, it had taken him ages to crack.  
  
"Having trouble?" They both nodded. "Are you here to ask Hermione for help?" He frowned suddenly, wondering why he'd referred to her by her first name.  
  
"No… She's a Gryffindor. And a…" The little girl lowered her voice "a Mudblood." Malfoy glanced up at Hermione. She hadn't reacted, but he suspected she'd heard.  
  
"Yes, but she'll help."  
  
"But she's a Gryffindor!" The other girl stressed the last word, obviously convinced by common room gossip that nobody from that house would help her. Malfoy pulled out a chair and sat down.  
  
"What are the qualities of a Slytherin?" Both girls looked puzzled at this change of direction.  
  
"We're purebloods." The dark-haired one whispered after a moment. He could tell that they were both thinking about other, less pleasant things, like the fact that many of them had dark wizards in the family, and that they didn't want to say these things outside the Slytherin common room. Malfoy wondered what their names were. He didn't normally pay much attention to first years.  
  
"We are, but that's not what I meant. What did the Sorting Hat say about us?"  
  
They both thought for a moment.  
  
"We're cunning."  
  
"We're ambitious."  
  
"Exactly. We want to get to the top, and we want to get there any way we can. So if asking a Gryffindor from a Muggle family for help is the best way to learn, then that's okay. Even if you are a Slytherin." He sat back, quite pleased with this logic, and glanced at Hermione again. She still wasn't looking at them, but she was smiling, and several of the other students were staring at the three Slytherins.  
  
"But Gryffindors hate Slytherins." The blonder girl still wasn't convinced. "Why would she help us?"  
  
"What does the Sorting Hat say about Gryffindors?"  
  
They had to think harder about this one.  
  
"They're brave?" In the past two and a half months they'd been well trained as Slytherins - they hated complimenting Gryffindors.  
  
"They're fair?"  
  
"That's right, apparently." Malfoy didn't really like saying nice things about Gryffindors either.  
  
"So if I'm helping students from the other three houses, I'll help Slytherins as well."  
  
So she was listening.  
  
"And as Slytherin pride wouldn't like to have a Gryffindor looking good, I'm sure Malfoy will help as well."  
  
Just because she wasn't a Slytherin, didn't mean she couldn't be cunning, apparently. Malfoy had to smile at her, and help the second years with their Potions homework.  
  
*****  
  
"Nice logic, Malfoy." The younger students had gone to put their books away before dinner, leaving Hermione and Malfoy to leave the library together. "Have you been practising?"  
  
"No, it's natural genius." Hermione snorted in a very unladylike fashion.  
  
"It was useful to have you around this afternoon. More students turn up every week." Malfoy shrugged.  
  
"I was planning to do some research for Potions. I noticed those girls were listening in and just thought I'd encourage them to do their best."  
  
"Very noble of you." she said dryly. "Fancy helping out again next week?"  
  
"Okay" he said before he had a chance to think about it and refuse.  
  
"Madam Pince is getting fed up with people talking in the library, she's only putting up with it because I'm helping them. I'm going to ask Professor McGonagall if there are any empty classrooms available."  
  
"Okay." He said again. "Let me know."  
  
"I will do." She turned down a corridor which led to Gryffindor Tower.  
  
"Hermione?" He'd called her by her first name again, but she didn't seem to mind.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"It's Hogsmeade again tomorrow. Will you walk down with me?" Hermione grinned.  
  
"I didn't think it worked like that. I thought you had to beat Ron at chess first." She laughed, and hurried away towards her common room.  
  
*****  
  
After dinner, Malfoy found himself walking over to where the Gryffindors were sitting. Dumbledore's scheme of getting everybody to socialise in the Great Hall wasn't so bad, he realised. Everyone except the Slytherins mixed quite happily.  
  
"Weasley?"  
  
"Malfoy."  
  
"Game of chess?"  
  
Hermione must have spoken to Weasley during dinner, because he didn't look surprised.  
  
"What's the bet this time?"  
  
"Same money as before, but I get Granger's company tomorrow without you and Potter hanging around."  
  
Ron pretended to think about it.  
  
"Okay, but I've been thinking that we're not valuing Hermione enough. She's worth more than seventy-five Galleons."  
  
"How about a hundred?" Malfoy smirked as Weasel's eyes widened. It was a lot of money, especially for someone who'd family were so poor. Malfoy could afford it easily, his parents gave him quite a lot of money and then bought him most things he wanted, so he had a considerable amount in his Gringotts vault.  
  
"You're on."  
  
*****  
  
"I don't understand why Ron keeps losing. I don't believe that Malfoy's better at chess." Ginny dropped into one of the chairs by the common room fire. Hermione caught Ron's eye and they shared a smile.  
  
"Maybe Malfoy's just lucky." Hermione suggested lightly. "Anyway, I have to spend all day with him tomorrow. I'm going to bed."  
  
Ron waited until she was out of both sight and earshot, then leant on the back of his sister's chair.  
  
"Or maybe we're just getting him to raise the stakes a bit more…"  
  
"Ron!" Ginny twisted in the seat and stared up at him.  
  
"Hermione says that she doesn't mind talking to him any more, and he seems prepared to risk a lot of money to spend time with her. And he can't win forever…" 


	10. 

Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not to me.  
  
  
  
"Hermione, would you stop studying! It's the holidays!" Ron pulled 'The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 6)' out of her hands, slammed it shut and pushed it into her bag. "It's Christmas! Take a few days off!" Hermione opened her mouth to protest, realised it was pointless and shut it again.  
  
It was the first day of the Christmas holidays, and Hermione, Ron and Harry were all on the Hogwarts Express, bound for London. The Weasleys had invited Harry to stay with them for Christmas, and he'd accepted immediately.  
  
"If you two start talking Quidditch, I'll get my book out again." Hermione warned.  
  
"What else is there to talk about?"  
  
"Let's talk about… Malfoy." Harry said. "What's going on, Hermione? You can't run away now, you're stuck on this train with us for at least another hour. Why are you suddenly friends with him?"  
  
"He's all right really." Hermione stared out of the window at the passing scenery.  
  
"He's a Slytherin. His father's a Death Eater. Malfoy's evil."  
  
Hermione shook her head.  
  
"Not really. He's mean to Gryffindors and people from Muggle families in the same way that I clean my teeth."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's just how we've been brought up. Mum and Dad consider dental hygiene to be a priority, Malfoy's parents think that pure blood and ambition are important. You pick up your values from your family."  
  
"But how can you be friends with him? He's been mean to you for years! He calls you Mudblood!"  
  
"Not any more he doesn't. I can hold an intelligent conversation with him."  
  
"Are you saying that you can't with us?" Ron pretended to be indignant.  
  
"Well…"  
  
"Slander!" Harry also assumed an indignant expression.  
  
"That's a long word for you, Harry."  
  
"Right! That's enough! Get her!" Hermione gave a little scream and then dissolved into fits of giggles as her friends attacked her. She was extremely ticklish, and they both knew it.  
  
"What's going on?" A familiar voice made them all stop and look at the door. "No, don't tell me, I can see what's going on." Malfoy surveyed the compartment. Harry had just retreated to the far side, nursing a sore scalp after Hermione had grabbed a fistful of his hair in an attempt to protect herself. Ron had now got her pinned to the seat by her wrists. If you didn't know what they'd been doing, it would all have look highly suspicious.  
  
"Some of the first years told me that there was a prefect being attacked in this carriage. But it doesn't look like you need any help." Malfoy smirked and walked away. Hermione pushed Ron off and straightened her robes. The three of them looked at one another for a moment, then burst out laughing.  
  
"Did you see his face?" Harry spluttered.  
  
"He thought he'd walked in on an orgy!"  
  
Hermione laughed as hard as the boys, but in the back of her mind a little voice pointed out that she'd been enjoying the close contact with Ron. And why did she feel guilty when Draco looked at her?  
  
"Bye Hermione, have a good Christmas!"  
  
"You too, Harry!" She hugged him quickly.  
  
"Don't work too hard!" Ron grabbed her and she hugged him back.  
  
"Don't you work too hard either!" she joked as she disentangled herself. "Hadn't you better help Ginny?" Ron's sister was struggling to get her trunk onto a luggage trolley. The Creevey brothers were trying to help, but neither of them was particularly muscular, and Ginny obviously hadn't packed light.  
  
"Honestly." Ron muttered and went to help. Harry grinned at Hermione.  
  
"See you next term."  
  
"Bye!" She pushed her own trolley towards the barrier into the main station.  
  
"Hermione, wait!" She paused and let Malfoy catch up with her. "We can go through together." They walked at the barrier and out into the bustle of Muggle King's Cross.  
  
"Did I interrupt something earlier? I thought that you and Ron weren't together any more?"  
  
"No! I'd just insulted them and they were trying to tickle me."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Did somebody really think I was being attacked?"  
  
"Yeah." He grinned suddenly. "Two first years came bursting into our compartment, all worried." Hermione laughed.  
  
"Not setting a very good example, was I?"  
  
"You should be ashamed of yourself, Miss Granger." Malfoy's Professor McGonagall impression was actually quite good.  
  
"Hermione! Over here!"  
  
"There are my parents. See you next term, Draco."  
  
"Don't I get a hug?" He pulled a face, pretending to be hurt. Hermione laughed.  
  
"Go on then." He let go of his trolley and pulled her against him. They stood for a moment, then pulled apart.  
  
"Let's hope nobody we know was watching!"  
  
"Bye Draco."  
  
"Have a good Christmas, Hermione."  
  
Hermione went to join her parents, her stomach flipping just like it had done when Ron had hugged her.  
  
"Who was that girl you were hugging?" Lucius Malfoy asked as they pushed Draco's luggage towards where their car was waiting. He looked rather uncomfortable in Muggle clothes, but he could hardly stand in the middle of King's Cross in his usual robes.  
  
"Hermione Granger."  
  
"Granger. Granger…" Lucius thought for a moment. "Isn't she that Mudblood who keeps beating you in the end of year exams?" Draco avoided his father's gaze.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Why were you hugging a Mudblood, Draco?"  
  
"We're friends."  
  
"And why are you friends with a Mudblood?" They'd reached the car, and their driver was loading Draco's luggage into the boot.  
  
"Because she's good company. There's nobody in Slytherin worth talking to." Draco was expecting his father to shout at him for that statement, but to his surprise Lucius laughed.  
  
"True. If they're anything like their parents, they're all as stupid as anything. Useful, but not too bright. But still, a Mudblood?"  
  
"We've been studying together."  
  
"Well, you need to bring your marks up to her level."  
  
Draco gathered his courage for his next statement. "And I don't mind that she's from a Muggle family. I like her."  
  
Lucius followed his son into the car. "How many times have I told you, Mudbloods are inferior, we don't mix with them." He sounded cross, but not as angry as Draco had expected.  
  
"You've also told me that nobody tells a Malfoy what to do. And you've said that you hate weak-minded people who just follow orders mindlessly. Hermione's bright, and she's good company. And personally I think that friends are more useful that enemies."  
  
Lucius stared at his son for a moment, then shrugged.  
  
"I can't argue with you without contradicting myself. I don't like you mixing with riffraff, but I'd rather my son knew his own mind. And if she hangs around with that Potter boy, you can probably find some useful information out while you're there." 


	11. 

Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not to me.  
  
Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Some of you commented that Lucius Malfoy reacted surprisingly well to Draco's friendship with Hermione. I've read a lot of stories where Draco gets beaten up by his father, and where Lucius is thoroughly evil, but personally I don't reckon Draco gets beaten at home, he's got far too much self confidence and doesn't flinch away from a fight. I reckon that Draco's slightly spoilt, and that Lucius would attempt to manipulate him but not necessarily force him to do anything. Obviously he'd change if Draco decided not to follow Voldemort once he left school, but at this stage he doesn't want to bring too much attention to his own support of You-Know-Who.  
  
That's my opinion anyway, you don't have to agree with me. I wanted to create a situation where Draco could be friends with Hermione without denouncing his parents as Death Eaters, or without their sudden and convenient deaths, as happens in so many Draco/Hermione fics.  
  
  
  
(Part 11)  
  
The first Hogsmeade weekend of the new year was in early February. There was snow on the ground, fairly thick, but the paths had been cleared and the trip to town hadn't been cancelled, much to the relief of the students.  
  
Draco Malfoy bet one hundred and fifty Galleons against a day with Hermione, and won.  
  
"Where did you want to go today?"  
  
"I don't mind. I don't need anything in particular, I got a whole load of books for Christmas." Hermione looked strangely bulky, because she was wearing her Muggle coat under her cloak as extra protection against the cold. "Let's keep moving, though, I'll freeze if I stand still!" They started to walk slowly through Hogsmeade, careful of their footing on the icy streets.  
  
"Hey!" Hermione whirled around to see who had thrown the snowball which had just hit her on the back. She slipped slightly and had to grab hold of Draco to steady herself.  
  
"Sorry Hermione, that wasn't meant for you." Ron tried to sound apologetic, but couldn't stop grinning. Draco was already scooping up snow to retaliate.  
  
"I think that two against eight was a bit unfair." Draco panted as they ducked into an alleyway. Ron had been joined by Harry and the rest of his dormitory, plus Ginny and the Creevey brothers. Finding herself caught in the rain of snowballs meant for Draco, Hermione had joined in to protect herself. Outnumbered, they'd given up and run away.  
  
"Two against eight? There were nine Gryffindors out there…" Draco stopped looking along the street to see if they were being followed and turned back to Hermione, who had her hands behind her back and an innocent expression.  
  
"What do you mean?" Draco knew what was coming.  
  
"I'm a Gryffindor too…" The snowball hit him in the face before he had time to move.  
  
"You little…" Draco grabbed a fistful of snow and walked slowly towards her. Laughing, Hermione backed away until she was up against the wall.  
  
"Draco… don't…"  
  
"Don't what?" It was his turn for an innocent expression as he started to loosen her scarf with one hand, intending to drop the snow down her neck.  
  
"Please?" She wasn't laughing any more. Her pulse was pumping in her ears as she stared into his eyes.  
  
The joking atmosphere vanished as they forgot about the rest of the world. Draco's handful of snow dropped unnoticed to the floor as he put one finger under Hermione's chin and tilted her face up. Hermione closed her eyes as she felt his breath warm against her face, forgot about the cold, forgot about the rest of Gryffindor shouting with laughter in the street, forgot about everything except Draco's lips on hers.  
  
*****  
  
Wandering back to Gryffindor Tower in a daze, Hermione wasn't really aware of where she was walking. She'd spent all afternoon kissing Draco Malfoy in deserted corners of Hogsmeade, and nearly an hour kissing him in an empty classroom after dinner. Now she was walking on auto pilot, until she stood by the portrait of the Fat Lady, totally unable to remember the new password.  
  
"Sorry dear, it changed this morning." Hermione sighed in frustration. She had been told the password, she knew what it was, she just couldn't quite remember…  
  
"Water Lilies." One of the first years who regularly turned up for help with homework had hurried down from the direction of the library, a couple of books in her arms. The portrait swung open, and they both went into the common room, which was empty.  
  
"I'm glad you turned up, I couldn't remember the password. It was on the tip of my tongue, but I just couldn't think what it was." Hermione smiled at the younger girl.  
  
"Are you feeling all right? It's not like you to forget things."  
  
"Just a bit distracted. It's been a funny day."  
  
"Did something happen in Hogsmeade?" She loved hearing about the town, she couldn't wait until she was in the third year and old enough to go herself.  
  
Hermione looked at her. She had a sudden urge to tell someone what had happened.  
  
"Sarah, isn't it? Can you keep a secret?" Sarah nodded breathlessly. Hermione took a deep breath and sat down.  
  
"Draco Malfoy kissed me today." Sarah's mouth dropped open, her eyes were round with excitement.  
  
"Wow! You are so lucky!" Hermione smiled, suddenly realising that Sarah's regular attendance at the homework help sessions might be due to something other than a desire to get good marks. "I'm so pleased you've got together!" Sarah put her books on a nearby table and sat next to Hermione. "Is he a good kisser?"  
  
*****  
  
"I just don't understand why Draco's spending so much time with that Mudblood Gryffindor."  
  
Hermione ducked into an empty classroom, listening to the footsteps in the corridor. She recognised Millicent Bulstrode's voice, but who was she with?  
  
"Oh, his father told my mother what that's all about." Pansy Parkinson. "Draco's only pretending to be friends with her so that he can pass information back to his father about what Harry Potter's up to. What's really funny is that she's falling for him!"  
  
The voices faded away as the Slytherin girls moved further up the corridor. Hermione let out the breath that she hadn't known she was holding.  
  
"I trusted you! I knew I shouldn't have trusted you!" Hermione whirled around him, her robes billowing.  
  
"Hermione, what's happened?" Draco tried to catch hold of her but she dodged out of reach.  
  
"What's happened? I've found out your little game, that's what's happened! I don't appreciate being used, Malfoy!"  
  
"Hermione, I don't know what you're talking about." He tried again to catch hold of her, make her stand still.  
  
"Don't touch me! Don't you ever touch me again." Near to tears, she stormed past him and disappeared into the maze of corridors. 


	12. 

Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not to me.  
  
  
  
"Why isn't Hermione talking to you?" Draco looked up from his Defence Against The Dark Arts notes and found one of the first year Gryffindor girls watching him.  
  
"I don't know." Draco looked tired. He had purple shadows under his eyes and his hair was sticking out as though he'd been repeatedly running his hands through it.  
  
"Have you had a fight?" Draco was surprised that she was brave enough to question him when he didn't really want to talk. From the look on her face, so was she.  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
"Sarah." Her answer was almost a whisper. Draco looked down at the table.  
  
"Well, Sarah, I've done something to upset Hermione, but I don't know what, and she won't tell me. She won't listen when I talk to her."  
  
"That's not very fair of her." He glanced up, amazed that she was criticising one of her own prefects, but she was already running out of the library, her plait bouncing against her back.  
  
*****  
  
"What's wrong?" Ron sat down next to her on the sofa by the common room fire. Hermione shrugged and didn't answer. "Come on, Hermione, I know you well enough to know that something's up."  
  
Hermione didn't want to answer. She'd never told Ron about what had happened between her and Draco, and she really didn't want to explain it now.  
  
"I don't want to talk about it." She said finally in a small voice. Ron put his arm around her.  
  
"You don't have to." Hermione relaxed against him and, much to her horror, started to cry. Ron just hugged her and stroked her hair until she managed to pull herself together. Finally she sniffed, found a tissue in her pocket and wiped her face.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"That's okay."  
  
Hermione suddenly smiled, a rather watery smiled but a genuine one. It occurred to her that most men would have panicked when confronted with a crying female, especially if they had five brothers.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nothing." She shook her head and relaxed against him again. Ron just sat with his arm around her, stroking her hand absent-mindedly. Hermione realised that she'd missed this since they'd split up, they'd been careful not to get too close and she'd missed feeling comfortable, feeling safe like this.  
  
"Feeling better now?" She nodded. Ron stood up and smiled down at her. "I've got some chocolate upstairs. I'll go and get it." She smiled back at him and he disappeared up the stairs to his dormitory.  
  
"What's up between you and Draco?" Hermione stopped staring into the fire and looked up at the breathless girl who'd just come in through the portrait hole.  
  
"I'm not speaking to him, Sarah." Hermione sounded tired. "He's a lying, double-crossing Slytherin and I don't want to talk about it."  
  
"You're not much of a Gryffindor." Sarah stood her ground.  
  
"What?" That got a reaction. "How dare you!"  
  
"Draco said…" Sarah guessed that this was the wrong tactic. "The Sorting Hat said that Gryffindors are fair. Well I don't think it's fair that you won't listen to his side of things." Hermione stared at her. Sarah looked nervous, but continued. "It's not very brave either."  
  
"Found them!" Ron came down the stairs waving a box of Chocolate Frogs. He stared as Sarah lost her nerve and bolted back out through the portrait hole. "What's going on?"  
  
"I've just had a first year give me a piece of her mind."  
  
"That was brave of her. I wouldn't dare!" Ron joked, opening the box. Hermione didn't smile as she stood up.  
  
"That's what makes us Gryffindors, Ron. Bravery." She helped herself to a Chocolate Frog and swept out, leaving him opening and shutting his mouth in a pretty good impression of a goldfish.  
  
*****  
  
"Draco." He looked up from the book he wasn't reading as Hermione dropped into the seat opposite him. "I heard Pansy telling Millicent that you're only pretending to be friends with me so that you can tell your dad things about Harry." She folded her arms, sat back, and waited for him to answer. Draco blinked as he took in what she'd said.  
  
"But that's not true!" He thought back to the conversations he'd had with his father over Christmas. "Dad wanted to know why I was hugging you at Kings Cross at Christmas, and I told him that I prefer to have you as a friend than as an enemy. He said that I could use you to get closer to Potter, but that's not why I talk to you. And I wouldn't pass anything you said on to my father even if Potter did do anything other than play Quidditch." He held her gaze for a few moments. Hermione stared back at him, as if trying to read his mind, then her shoulders slumped and she suddenly looked smaller.  
  
"I'm sorry. I should have talked to you first. I should have trusted you…"  
  
"But it seemed odd that I was being nice, and Pansy's explanation seemed plausible?" Draco reached across the table and took hold of her hand. "I don't blame you for not trusting me. I've hardly given you cause to over the past few years."  
  
Hermione moved her hand and twined her fingers through his. "Sorry." She whispered again.  
  
"Friends again?"  
  
"Friends again." She smiled suddenly. "I know someone who's got a crush on you…" 


	13. 

Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not to me.  
  
  
  
"I'm so confused!" Hermione flung herself onto her bed. It was a Sunday afternoon, and she was the only person in the dormitory. "I don't know how I feel any more." Crookshanks lay on his side next to her, enjoying a patch of sunshine. He opened one eye lazily when she stroked his stomach, then shut it again and appeared to be asleep.  
  
"Now I'm talking to Draco again, I keep wondering if he'll kiss me again. I'm half hoping he will, but the other half of me is scared of the idea." She turned onto her back and folded her hands beneath her head. "Then there's Ron. I liked Ron, I wouldn't have gone out with him if I didn't. Then he behaved so awfully with that first bet, and I had this secret feeling of relief that I had a good excuse to end things. But he was so sweet when I was upset the other night, and, I don't know…" She rolled back onto her side and propped herself on one elbow. "Do I still like him? There isn't even anyone I can talk to. I can't talk to Ron or Draco, obviously. Harry's a good friend, but he's terrified of girlie things. You should have seen his face when he overheard Ginny and I talking about periods at The Burrows over the summer!" She laughed quietly as she pictured his expression. "I couldn't talk to Ginny, Ron's her brother. Even little Sarah's biased!" She scratched the cat's ears. "Why don't I have any close female friends? You wouldn't happen to be an animagus or something, and actually be human, would you?"  
  
Crookshanks remained stubbornly feline. Hermione sighed and rolled onto her back once more.  
  
"I think what scares me about Draco is that I've never really had a boyfriend, except for Viktor, and that wasn't exactly perfect, was it? I do like Draco, and I think he likes me, but it wouldn't be easy for us to be a couple. What with his family being who they are, and Mum and Dad not being magical, and the whole Gryffindor Slytherin thing." She sighed. "Ah well, I suppose it'll work out somehow. I don't really have time for a boyfriend, anyway, not with all this work we have to do." Her voice lacked its usual conviction.  
  
*****  
  
"Hi." Draco dropped onto the grass next to Hermione and caught his breath. Hermione stopped gazing blindly at the lake and smiled at him.  
  
"Hi."  
  
"I thought we were friends again?" He flicked his hair out of his eyes, where it had fallen as he ran across the grounds.  
  
"We are."  
  
"Then why are you avoiding me? You didn't even look at me during Potions this afternoon."  
  
"I…" She paused to gather her thoughts. "I don't know. I'm just a bit confused."  
  
"About…?"  
  
"Us. You, me. Our families. Ron. Everybody else."  
  
"Nothing major, then." He joked. She managed another smile. Seeing that she really was bothered by the whole thing, Draco took a deep breath and tried to help.  
  
"Let's start at the beginning then. Us. You, me." He took hold of her hand. "I like you, Hermione. I like spending time with you, you're intelligent, you're fun to talk to. And I like kissing you as well!" He grinned, and Hermione found herself smiling too. "Our families. Not such an easy one. My parents are… well, they're both from old wizarding families, and they wouldn't be keen on me being with somebody who wasn't. Your parents are…"  
  
"Dentists." They shared another smile.  
  
"Exactly. I'm going to owl my father, tell him what's going on, try to persuade him not to go mad." He squeezed Hermione's hand, and she returned the pressure, already feeling a bit better. "As for Weasley…"  
  
"I'll have to talk to him. If you can tell your father, I can tell Ron. He doesn't have to like it, but I don't want you two fighting. He's not going to be happy, he'll blame himself. I think he still… has feelings for me."  
  
"I'm not surprised." She glanced quickly up at him, and he shrugged. "Maybe Weasley and I do have something in common after all!" She pushed him playfully and he grinned at her. "What's left?"  
  
"Everybody else."  
  
"Just a little one then!" He dropped the joking for a moment. "Seriously, though, if we just act normal then they'll get over it soon enough."  
  
"We need to talk to our friends first, and you need to tell your dad. Before everybody starts talking about us." Draco realised that Hermione had a point.  
  
"Let's tell them soon, then. I don't like hiding in corners." He looked around to check that there was nobody around. They were alone by the lake, nobody in sight.  
  
"As corners go, this one's not bad…" He pulled her towards him, and kissed her softly. After a moment Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, and from then on if anybody had come into sight, neither of them would have noticed. Hermione stopped worrying about how she felt, because all of a sudden she knew that this was where she should be. 


	14. 

Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not to me.  
  
  
  
"Hermione, can I talk to you for a moment?" Hermione looked up from her Arithmancy homework.  
  
"Of course you can, Harry. What's up?" Harry looked uncomfortable.  
  
"Um… I saw you and Draco down by the lake yesterday." He blurted out. "Kissing." Hermione went slightly pink.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Were you going to tell us?" Harry sounded slightly cross.  
  
"Of course I was!" Hermione protested. "But I wanted to tell Ron first, and I haven't found the right moment." Harry leant towards her.  
  
"Would you do me a huge favour?"  
  
"What's that?" Hermione sounded wary, suspecting blackmail.  
  
"Could you wait until after tomorrow's Quidditch match against Slytherin? We need to win, and we need Ron to be focused." Hermione smiled, relieved to have an excuse to put off the dreaded confession a little while longer.  
  
"Sure. I wouldn't want to stand in the way of victory!"  
  
*****  
  
Dear Father,  
  
Remember at Christmas I told you I'd made friends with Hermione Granger? Well, we've become more than just friends. I know you don't like me mixing with people from Muggle families, but I like her, and I think you would too, if she was pureblood. As I said during the holidays, I think it's better to have friends than enemies. If I need these people to trust me later in life, for whatever reason, it's better to start now. I can always make enemies later. You always said that you hated weak people who can't think for themselves. Well I'm thinking for myself now, and I've chosen a girl who's better for me than any of the half-wit purebloods I've dated before. Please try to understand.  
  
Draco  
  
*****  
  
Dear Draco,  
  
I can't say that I'm pleased with you, but I can tell that you won't listen to reason. At least this girl can be useful, she might encourage you to work harder, and as you said it could be to our advantage later if she trusts you. In any case, you're only sixteen and I'm sure this is just a phase you're going through. Mother sends her love.  
  
Father  
  
*****  
  
"I'm actually seventeen now. You'd think he'd remember when my birthday is, wouldn't you?"  
  
"It sounds like you're setting up some sort of plot to use me in a few years time." Hermione compared a copy of Draco's letter to his father's reply.  
  
"I had to try to convince him. Let him think what he wants if it means he won't oppose us." She handed the pieces of parchment back to Draco, who tucked them into his pocket.  
  
"How did Ron take it?"  
  
"I haven't told him yet. We're playing you in tomorrow's Quidditch match, and I don't want to distract him."  
  
"Putting Quidditch before me?" Draco pretended to be hurt. Hermione smiled.  
  
"No. Harry saw us by the lake yesterday. I'm being blackmailed…"  
  
*****  
  
"Come on Gryffindor!" Ginny was starting to sound a little hoarse from screaming. "Come on Ron! Come on Harry!"  
  
It was a long game. They'd been playing for nearly two hours, and there was no sign of the Golden Snitch. The scoring had been even for the first hour, then a couple of penalties to Gryffindor put them in the lead. For that point on, Ron was on top form. The Gryffindor score was now 280, Ron having scored 150 of those points.  
  
"He's got the Quaffle again!" Ginny was standing on her seat, clutching Ron's Omnioculars. The Slytherin keeper tried to block him, but Ron feinted for the left hoop, then tossed the Quaffle through the central one.  
  
"Go Ron!" Ginny yelled. Hermione winced and rubbed her ear.  
  
"Come on Harry!" Neville stood up, pointing to where Harry and Draco were streaking towards a flash of gold.  
  
Hermione held her breath. She knew that she should have been cheering for Harry, one of her best friends, and for her house, but she couldn't bring herself to shout out against Draco.  
  
"Come on!" She let out her breath and settled for a neutral yell that people could interpret as they wanted. Ginny grabbed her hand and hauled her onto the seat.  
  
The red blur that was Harry and the green blur that was Draco were now so close together that, even with Omnioculars, it was difficult to see what was going on. Suddenly they both slowed right down, and began to descend.  
  
"Which one of them caught it?" Neville squinted at the pitch. Hermione focused her Omnioculars.  
  
"Draco."  
  
The Gryffindors fell silent for a moment, then Dennis Creevey gave a shout.  
  
"We've won! We've won!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"We were 290 to 130. The Snitch is worth 150, so now it's 290 to 280. We've won!"  
  
Various people started screaming.  
  
"Come on, Hermione!" Ginny leapt off her seat, dragging Hermione after her, and ran for the stairs to go and congratulate her brother.  
  
*****  
  
"Well done, Ron!" Ginny flung her arms around her brother. "You were amazing!"  
  
"Thanks Ginny." Ron looked past her to Hermione, who smiled at him and hugged him once Ginny let him go."  
  
"Well done!"  
  
"It was so close for the Snitch. Malfoy was just lucky." Ginny commiserated with Harry.  
  
"Never mind." He shrugged and smiled. "We still won!"  
  
"You idiot! Two more goals and we would have won! You had to go and catch it, didn't you! You could have just blocked him!" The Slytherin captain wasn't impressed by Draco catching the Snitch either.  
  
Hermione caught Draco's eye and mouthed "well done!" They shared a smile, unaware that they were being observed. 


	15. 

Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not to me.  
  
Fifteen reviews overnight - and my first flame! A criticism on my character pairing. I'm just amazed that you read all fourteen chapters if you didn't like it…  
  
Here it is, the fifteenth and final part of the story. If you have any questions about why I wrote this the way I did, or anything else, leave them in the reviews and I'll post the answers in a few days.  
  
  
  
(Part 15)  
  
"Hermione! Hermione?" Sarah burst in through the portrait hole. "Hermione?" Hermione, putting the finishing touches to her Arithmancy homework, looked up from the table where she was working.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"You've got to come down to the Great Hall now! You have to stop them!"  
  
"What's happening?" Hermione laid her quill neatly next to her roll of parchment and stood up.  
  
"It's Ron and Draco. They're playing chess again. But it's different, it's all tense and horrible. They won't stop!"  
  
Hermione sighed and followed the younger girl out of the common room.  
  
*****  
  
"Hey, Malfoy!"  
  
"Weasel."  
  
"You leave Hermione alone. She doesn't need you hanging around her."  
  
"What are you talking about?" The familiar bored drawl.  
  
"I saw you looking at her after the match today. You stay away from her."  
  
"I think Hermione can make her own mind up, Weasley."  
  
They were circling one another in the gap between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. Other students were gathering around, waiting to see if there would be a fight.  
  
"What would you want with Mudblood Granger anyway, Draco?" Millicent Bulstrode, sticking her nose in.  
  
"He just wants to upset Weasley." Pansy Parkinson, unable to resist stirring.  
  
"She'd never go out with you, Malfoy. She's got taste." Ginny Weasley, sticking up for her house. She'd missed the glances between Hermione and Draco after the Quidditch match.  
  
"Do you really think you could just say 'hey, Hermione, be my girl,' and she'd say yes? Your ego is too big even for a Slytherin, Malfoy." Neville Longbottom, in an uncharacteristic moment of bravado.  
  
"Why don't we just ask Hermione?" Everybody ignored Sarah.  
  
"Let's finish this the way it started." Harry was surprised to hear his own voice joining the debate. "Get your chess sets." He realised that he was probably the only person here who knew the truth. Hermione wouldn't mind if Malfoy won, because she was going out with him anyway. Malfoy had won all the games so far, so Harry thought that this way might be for the best.  
  
Ron and Draco both found their chess pieces, and set up the game.  
  
"So, if I win, Hermione will be my girlfriend."  
  
"And if I win…?"  
  
Draco produced a bulging bag of golden coins.  
  
"Two hundred Galleons." There was a collective gasp from the gathering students.  
  
"That's a lot of money to have at school, Malfoy." Draco shrugged.  
  
"Do you want to play or not?"  
  
"I'll play."  
  
*****  
  
"What's going on?" Hermione waited in the doorway of the Great Hall, reluctant to walk in. Harry detached himself from the crowd and went over to her.  
  
"Ron and Malfoy are playing chess again."  
  
"I can see that. What's the bet?"  
  
"Two hundred Galleons if Ron wins," Hermione couldn't help her gasp at the amount of money, "Or you as his girlfriend if Malfoy wins."  
  
"How dare they?"  
  
"I thought that you wanted to go out with Malfoy?"  
  
"That's not the point!" Hermione's eyes flashed with anger. "They're treating me like property. After that first time, you'd think that Ron would know better!" She pushed past Harry and took a few steps into the Great Hall. Draco glanced up from the chess board as Ron contemplated his next move. His calm grey eyes met Hermione's, and she stopped.  
  
"Never mind." Her shoulders sagged slightly, and she turned back to Harry.  
  
"Are you okay?" She shrugged.  
  
"I'm not going to stop them."  
  
"Are you going back to the common room? Do you want me to come with you?" Harry glanced past her, keeping an eye on the chess match.  
  
"No, it's okay…" She wandered past him, heading for Gryffindor Tower.  
  
*****  
  
The silence in the common room was almost unbearable. She couldn't concentrate on reading, she couldn't think about anything except the chess match being played downstairs. She wanted to be with Draco, but not as a prize, not as a school joke. She was angry with both boys for treating her like an object. There had been several chess match bets for her now, but all except the first one had been made with her permission. She didn't know whether or not this last match was partly her fault for allowing them to bet her before.  
  
"They should still have asked me." She muttered.  
  
She realised that she was talking to herself, and decided that she couldn't sit on her own waiting any more. Picking up the book that she'd been trying and failing to read, she marched back to the Great Hall.  
  
*****  
  
The tension in the Great Hall was almost tangible. Nobody noticed Hermione slipping in and settling herself in a corner. She opened her book as camouflage and refused to look at the chess match, which was in any case hidden by the students crowding around.  
  
She didn't know who was winning, and her only information on the game's progress came from the gasps, the cheering, the booing and the shouted advice from the students who weren't playing. Occasionally Ron or Draco's voice would get through to her, directing a piece to a new square. The words on the paper in front of her swam, and she turned pages from time to time without having read them.  
  
"Check." She didn't know who had said it. Somebody had noticed her, and a certain amount of pointing and whispering had begun. She ignored it, and turned another page.  
  
"Checkmate!" Even if she hadn't recognised the voice this time, she would have known who the winner was by the cheers and yells around the chessboard.  
  
Ron.  
  
Clutching Draco's bag of coins, Ron was swept up in a crowd of Gryffindors, shouting and yelling with the exuberance left over from their Quidditch victory. Hermione closed her book and stood up slowly. Leaving the book on the table, she walked towards Ron, who stopped short when he saw her.  
  
"Hermione!" He was too excited to be properly nervous, but she noticed a certain wariness in his eyes.  
  
"Well done." She hugged him, and let him hug her back. The whole situation felt vaguely unreal, as if she was watching it all on film. Ron let her go after a moment, and started yelling to Ginny and Harry. Hermione didn't hear what he said as she walked through the crowd, which parted to let her pass.  
  
Draco was packing his chess pieces away. A few Slytherins were stood nearby, but nobody was talking to him.  
  
"Malfoy." Her voice was deliberately cool. He looked up.  
  
"Hermione."  
  
"So. You lost then?" He nodded. "Ron's got his money?" He nodded again. "What do you get out of it, Malfoy?"  
  
He shrugged. "Nothing, it seems. That's what losing's about."  
  
"And what about… us?"  
  
"I had to win to get you." The Malfoy mask had slipped, and he looked unhappy.  
  
"I can still make my own decisions, you know." The last knight was packed into the box, and Draco put the lid on before he looked up again, his face once again expressionless.  
  
"Meaning?" She took a step forwards, so that she was standing right next to him.  
  
"Meaning…" She put her hand on his shoulder and twisted him to face her. "That I can still do this if I want to."  
  
Then she kissed him, right in front of the whole school. When she broke away, he was standing totally still, looking completely surprised. Somebody started to clap. Draco laughed and pulled her towards him again.  
  
They were no longer aware that the entire school was staring at them.  
  
They didn't know that Ron was spluttering as he gazed at them, or that Ginny had to grab the bag of gold to stop him dropping it.  
  
They didn't see Harry grinning, or little Sarah jumping up and down and clapping her hands.  
  
They forgot the chess game, the differences between them and the difficulties that opposed them.  
  
Nothing mattered any more, except that they were together, for no other reason than because they wanted to be. 


End file.
